What the hell?

"What the fuck is wrong with this place?" That was the first thing Takeo had said since arriving in the land of lightning. His Byakugan had spotted the village before his normal vision had. Passing over a hill he laid his gaze upon the village of Kumogakure. He recalled that once it and Tengakure had stood together as allies. He had never been to the place, so he had always wondered what it was like. His question had been answered immediately, it was literally the worst place he had ever seen. The first thing he noticed was the area surrounding Kumogakure. A mass of pikes stuck into the ground spanned out across the fields. Naturally, if one has pikes they have to have bodies pierced on them. This was a given, though from the sounds of it and the slight movement Takeo noted that the bodies were in fact living despite their appearance. Some nasty medical work was at hand here most likely. Maybe Xyxer had visited Kumogakure in his spare time? Takeo didn't want to imagine that there was someone around the same level of insanity as that boy, but it seemed to be the case. Xyxer wasn't exactly the most savvy when it came to medical aspects. No, this was the work of someone he had not encountered before. The fields were not only occupied by the pikes however. The ground itself was mixed with someone's chakra, a sensory trick perhaps? He would find out soon enough. Bodies moved throughout the fields, guards it seemed. From the looks of them they didn't seem entirely human. A result of experimentation left them with no resemblance to what they must have looked like before. He observed them for a moment or two, taking note of their movements.

His gaze moved from the fields to the village itself. There seemed to be three different layers of the village of Kumogakure. Two separated by walls, one which he did not want to delve on for too long because it was truly disgusting to look at. Takeo's gaze didn't extend far enough for him to actually get a good look at the layer, but from here he could clearly see the fog wall. Well, whoever was in charge certainly had a strange sense of taste it seemed. "I regret everything." He said with a sigh as he made his way down the small hill and into the fields. Stepping onto the ground he took note of how hard it was to walk across. An intentional design it seemed, as trying to surface walk across it wielded no results. Still, giving Takeo's natural physical strength he had no actual issues when he put effort into it. So he strolled casually through the fields, pointedly ignoring the pleas and moans of the ones that were stuck on pikes. They must have deserved it in some aspect, he assumed they were simply the weak ones who could not adapt and survive. The wandering bodies for the most part ignored him, passing by them he noticed that they seemed to lack any sort of...well anything really. Mindless drones. Much like the people of Kiri then. The walk across the field seemed to take forever, though in actuality it only lasted a minute due to Takeo's pace. He arrived at what he assumed was the gates and glanced around. Common courtesy was to wait for someone to let you in if you were a foreign shinobi. But this place really didn't seem like one to follow such customs. Regardless he'd wait, if not greeted then he'd stroll on in.

There had been talk of someone waiting at the gates for someone to let them in Youka guessed, he didn't understand why if the gates were open you didn't just walk in. Meh to each his own he guessed. Forgoing his armor and equipment today the champion of decay and in turn life calmy strode to the front gates of Kumo all the way from the third district. Today Youka would be wearing a basic black shirt and black pants fitted to his slim frame. His sickly looking red hair was pushed back with a few strands falling in front of his face.

Today he felt much better than he had the past few days after having a bijuu sealed in him. He felt like he was practically bursting with energy. Though his face had deep sunken eyes that carried black pupils, unknown to him till he swipped them away there were small maggots slowly eating at the dead skin around his cheeks where the holes had formed from all the experiments tested on himself. His skin now had a leathery look to it as it was aged giving him a more matured look than he actually was.

Finally reaching the gates with his hands in his pocket one would leave his pocket as he reached within two meters of the male. It would come up in a wave before his body was slumped over coughing into the very same hand, it would seem his body still wasn't used to sharing it's energy with another being. After finishing he would look up again breathing in a long drawn out breath.

"Yo."

The oddities continued, the approach of a man was noted sometime before he came arrived. Takeo was allowed to get over his initial surprise at his appearance long before the man was within normal viewing distance. Thus when the greeting was given he replied as if seeing someone he had known for a long time. "Sup. Love the field." He jabbed his thumb backwards the compliment, "I assume they were the ones that were unable to adapt." Small talk, something he always enjoyed doing. It helped him get a grasp on the people that he were dealing with. Was this guy as weird as he appeared? Or was he simply a poor victim, one of god's cruel jokes. "Name's Takeo, used to live in Tengakure. Thought I might as well pop in for a visit considering how this village was supposed to be allied to us sometime ago." He took the time to once more look out to the fields, there was one thing that had been nagging him in the back of his mind. "How are they still alive by the way?"

Youka was watching the male carefully through studied eyes of a trained fighter. Sure the kid looked young but he learned to never let that determine how he dealt with the situation. A rasp chuckle left his lips as the questions continued to roll from the males mouth. He would simply listen to what was being said and caught on the traveler being from Tengakure. Pounding a fist into his open palmed hand and making a surprised expression with his face he would begin to speak and asnwer all that was said.

"Oho Tenga eh? How's Xyxer doing, that crazy little guy. I did read in some of these files about that alliance, it didnt' seem to last long or be useful to either parties."

Flashing a youthful smile in the boys direction he would practically change gears to a even more energetic tone once he realizd he had been complimented on the field.

"Oh you like it?! It is truly an amazing work of art if I do say so myself, it's really interesting!"

Walking past the male and standing next to one of the bodies about a meter to the left of him he would flux his chakra just once. In the next second an explosion of red mist entrails and acidic toxin would explode from the captured civilians stomach causing the host to scream out but not die simply squirm still on the pole. Wiping blood from his face he would walk back over to Takeo.

"Purely amazing right? It only took me a littlewhile to get the mix just right to keep the body alive but still decay enough to produce a toxin in the hosts body. It's just a little medical science, pretty easy to mass produce. Ah, where are my manners?"

Offering his non bloddied right hand to Takeo for a handshake he would introduce himself.

"My name is Youka, it's a pleasure to meet you Takeo."

This entire time however Youka was practically still healing the slit in his forehead where the ney eye lay with medical chakra and still focusing on reviving the eye by diverting some of his chakra reserves to it, it was jsut taking longer than he expected.

Takeo couldn't help but look surprised when the man mentioned Xyxer by name. Perhaps he had been right that Xyxer had visited this place before? "Xyxer is currently enjoying spending time in his newly revived village of Kirigakure." He replied with disinterest, he really was not fond of that place. "Honestly the alliance seemed to just be in name only. 'Sky Nation', what a load of crap." The next surprise came when the man suddenly changed into a completely different person. Energy seemed to flow through him as he began to talk about the field behind him. Takeo turned as the man walked past him, his curiosity rose as the man walked towards one of the pikes. His head tilted slightly as he witnessed the display of entrails and toxins. He stepped backwards slightly, he didn't want to ruin his fancy white coat after all, in order to avoid any stray bits and pieces.

"Ah the wonders of science and medicine. Not exactly my strong suits unfortunately, I have to make due with cutting off limbs." A hint of sadness in his voice he took a moment to think back on that on incident many months ago. Looking back on it now, it was actually quite funny. "The pleasure's all mine Youka." He replied when the man offered a handshake. Ah the handshake, there was no thing more manly than a handshake when meeting someone. One could tell a lot about a person when shaking their hand. A weak pathetic person had an equally limp and pathetic handshake. Strong confident people had a firm handshake. And those whose sexuality were in question would often hold the hand for just a little too long.

"This place is quite fascinating Youka." Takeo commented, turning his to look back into the village. "Looks recently revamped as well. Changed leadership recently I take it?" He knew all about how village's change when a new leader comes to power. He'd seen it happen both in Tengakure and Shimagakure. Though, considering the grand scale of the village maybe Takeo was wrong. "I'd be interested in exploring this village, if you don't mind that is, I do wonder what the inside is like after seeing the fields." His eyes seemed to shine as he spoke. Would the quality of such torture devices improve the deeper into the village he went? What were the villagers like? Were they mindless slaves like the ones outside? Or were they frightened lambs forced into living here. Was the village even populated? All these questions raced through Takeo's head. He needed to find out.

It seemed that mentioning Xyxer's name caused a pause in the male before he continued. This alloed Youka to decipher that the males was too talkative about his dealings with everything that had happened while they were in Tenga. This caused Youka to wonder who this male was to Xyxer then and what their connection was if not on a information sharing level. The talk of the sky nation brought about his old memories now of the Fire nation as well and the battle the two fought for what it was worth. For what it was worth the male spoke in a matter of fact way not really showing too much excitement or boredom in his voice, he was simply just stating facts.

"Indeed it would seem you are correct about it being name only, I don't really recall anything being to significant about it. However old Kumogakure honestly wasn't one to hold up to any of it's claims of allegiance if they weren't guaranteed a victory."

Listening to the male speak of chopping off limbs in a sad tone caused the decaying lord to laugh out loud in the way Takeo had delivered his sentence. Kumo was still just getting off of it's feet and already he was meeting interesting people from different lands.

"Ha, you must indeed be a man of Tenga, it seems limb removal is as important as food in those parts. I watched your friend cut a poor males testicles off. The kid was no older than fifteen."

Taking Takeo's hand Youka would intiate a firm handshake of course as was his custom. Sure his body looked weak and frail but he wouldn't let people believe that was his true nature, hopefully the firmness was returned, limp hand shakes were the bane of his existence. The male was paying Youka too many compliments for him to take at once over the new designs of the village that he couldn't help but smile ear to ear.

"Yes, the village was recently errrr..procured through various means of very aggressive restructuring. It was sorely needed, and of course I put my own touches on it."

Standing to the left side of Takeo he would wve his hand in front of him gesturing that entry to the village was granted. He would walk beside Takeo into the village and give the tour as they went along.

"I don't really mind sharing the village with others as I do want to promote a very inviting village. This is the first sector of Kumogakure, it's a whole kilometer around and sectioned off by this wall you see. I call it the treasonous wall as everyone in this sector could try to come for my life at a moments notice, and they are also the ones that were last to join me so they wouldn't die."

As they walked Takeo would be able to note that this area while completed in being built was still rundown looking, only small huts were built for those to live in and more still wore rags and torn clothing from old Kumo. Further down they would note multiple indoctrination sessions going on teaching the villagers how to live as one and work as a hive mind. It wasn't extravagant but everyone still had a mind, it just was for the greater good, and with no free thinking involved. Walking and talking at the same time Youka would explain what was going on.

"They are going through a multistep process of being rehabilitated to either be moved to the next inner wall, or if they fail they stay hear and then eventually move to the fields. This area is the strictest as I have to ensure a uprising doesn't start and they stay as far away from the other districts as possible."

The three orbs that hovered around Youka finally made their way in front of him and kept circling around his midsection like playful balls of light. While talking he could feel the last bit of the damaged tissue healing in the slit of his new eye and they eye as well was almost ready to be used as it was almost like feeding off of the chakra he was sending to train it to open and be useful.

"Any questions before we move on to the second district?"

When it was mentioned about Xyxer cutting off the testicles of a young boy it didn't come as surprise to Takeo. He had always known he was a bit odd, what with the eyeliner and that. "Cutting off limbs, and taking eyes and bloodlines were quite common in Tengakure. Surprisingly enough it died down when Xyxer actually came into power." That had always amused Takeo greatly, the fact that crime had actually lessened significantly when the two of them had taken over the village.

As suspected the handshake told Takeo much about Youka. For one, despite is odd appearance he had some strength behind him. That much was evident by the firmness of the shake. It matched if not rivalled Takeo's own. Takeo wagered that the man was physically stronger than he was most likely. The smile that was on the man's face told him that he seemed to be thrilled by the compliments. It was always nice to see a man that took pride in his work. He chuckled upon the description of how the village had been taken. It seemed he had been right about the leadership change.

With the gesture to enter the village Takeo would walk alongside Youka. Well not exactly alongside, but a step behind. Having to predict which way someone would go was often a pain, so staying slightly behind them was practical. Takeo remained silent as Youka talked. The name of the sector brought a smile to his face. From the looks of things, things would get better the closer to the centre of the village you got. Through his white eye he observed the structures of this sector. Seemed much like some of the ones he had seen when travelling through the Earth Country, that of refugees, but much more run down. The clothing left much to be desired as well, nothing more than rags. Still, Takeo couldn't help but feel that even this was generous. "It's surprising how you let those you readily accept will try to betray you live in your village. Even an uprising of slaves could prevent some sort of a problem later down the line."

Passing by several sessions Takeo's 'worries' were soon laid to rest as Youka explained about the rehabilitation. His eyes continued to scan across the sector as they walked and talked. When Youka asked if he had any questions he would think for a moment. "There doesn't seem much in the way of preventing them from mass escaping if they wished too. What is it that keeps them from fleeing?" His eye then settled on the wall ahead of them, the one that would separate the outer and inner sector it seemed. "Is that wall for aesthetics, or does it hold a use like the bodies on the pikes?" It reminded him of Tengakure for some reason. Must be because of the eyes.

Youka laughed at the males words, it seemed that Tengakure suffered the same way that every other village suffered from people with special abilities entering villages. They couldn't help but alleviate the person of their burden. While a little dark and morbid to think about and be done, it was simply how this world functioned, a fact that Youka knew well as he was owner of more than a few parts that didn't belong to him.

"Well that's good to hear I assume, though I didn't take Xyxer for the caring type. If you don't mind me asking, how exactly are you two connected, if it's too much information to share I understand. I just didn't meet you during my time there."

Youka would of course wait for an answer as they continued to walk towards the second district. It was at this time that Takeo brought up his concerns about letting the people walk freely and live like normal humans if even just on the outskirts of the village. It was indeed a weird thing to let happen but Youka felt like ti would be for the best.

"Ah, well you see, most of the people here have hung their own loved ones on the pikes you saw outside the village. So their morale is pretty much broken and too low to attempt things like that. They know all to well the consequences of any form of uprising."

Youka's forehead slit would finally open revealing another pure white eye under it as the healing process had finished just in the nick of time to try something out. The full range of vision it ave him was outstanding and with a little practice he could even see through people and structures, very useful indeed. He would hope the weird happening would cause the male to see this as an act of aggression, Youka's demeanor never changed and his smile still occupied his face.

"As for people getting away and trying to leave, they'll have to get past the fields first and the ones that roam it. But if you let your senses pick up small amounts of chakra and direct it towards the front wall you'll see what keeps them from attempting to run."

This would be the point to where if Takeo were to use his special eyes to look inside the wall he would see it laced with explosive tags from top to bottom circling the entirety of the wall. A brief laugh would be heard from Youka as his hand came to his stomach.

"I had them build their own prison honestly, it was good times. As I've said their morale is broken in more ways than one. I do not fear an uprising."

As they stopped in front of the second gate Takeo would ask what purpose it served. Which to be fair was a very good question. If anyone saw a giant wall made of eyes and flesh entirely and they didn't ask the question someone was indeed very wrong with them. Youka being Youka didn't see this as sharing too much information on how his village worked, however he could feel the Demon once again churning in the back of his mind as it slept. He would be absolutely livid at the information he was sharing.

"It holds a purpose just as you have guessed, what good is a wall of eyes if they don't actually work? They are attached to my eyes, and this allows me to watch everything that happens inside these walls. I find relying on chakra and the like to be too untrustworthy."

Looking up at the central middle eye of the wall it would in turn look down at them and activate a light beam that flash down on them illuminating them for a brief moment before fading away again.

"It's honestly the perfect tracking device."

At this point they would walk under the wall past the guards and into the next sector of Kumo, of course again Youka would answer any questions that Takeo had about any of the walls of the like they had just witnessed. Walking into the second district it would be ten times more likeable thean the first. It had a old towne look to it with everything made from wood and small taverns and the like everywhere. This is again where Youka's attitude would become a more light hearted vibe as he shook hands of some of the civilians before kicking a ball back to some kids who were playing a game of soccer in the distance.

Takeo's expression grew thoughtful as Youka asked how he was connected with Xyxer. "Ah, I've known him since I was a student in the Academy of Tengakure." There was a pause as he debated on whether or not to mention some of their exploits. A few seconds passed before he continued, "Together we took the position of Tenkage from the one's who had disappeared." Takeo grinned slightly at the memory, "Although it was mostly all my work. After awhile I got bored and then Xyxer decided to take over and rebuild Kirigakure."

Youka would elaborate on why he let the plebeians have so much freedom. Takeo nodded, it made sense. Self-preservation was one of the strongest instincts amongst all creatures, so naturally if one instilled enough fear into them they would follow along obediently. It was around this time that the slit on the man's forehead would open, revealing an eye identical to the one Takeo had for a left eye. Such a thing didn't phase him, after what he had seen on the brief tour not much would be capable of surprising him now. Youka's next words raised his curiosity, through his own eye he would focus on the walls themselves. What he saw inside of them made him chuckle heartily for a second. "It seems no expense was spared." He commented, a smile still on his face.

Arriving at the second wall his questions about it's purpose would be answered. Takeo watched as the eye turned it's gaze towards them. "Only the foolish rely purely on chakra sensing. One's own vision will always be superior." He spoke the words confidently, after all his Byakugan was something that he had relied on for every waking moment since he had implanted it. Such confidence he had in the eye and it's techniques made it so that when the light was shined on him he didn't flinch. Even if it was some sort of harmful technique, he was confident that One Way Road would protect him from such harm. Turned out it wasn't though, Takeo guessed it was some sort of registering system. "It must have taken some time to figure out how to get that to work."

With that the pair would enter into the second sector. The difference was immediately clear to Takeo. Overall it seemed more...cheery than the other sector. "So these would be the ones who pledged loyalty to you immediately I take it? The ones who accepted your leadership without question?" A reasonable assumption, given that the accommodations were better than the previous by far. Even the way the villagers around here acted seemed different.

Today was a rare day off for the girl. Up until the last month, there had been no time of rest or relaxation for her. Her father had constantly been pushing her. On the days of rest provided to her by the village from her shinobi duties, her father would be running her into the ground with extreme training. With the new... ah change in management, Eiatsu was free of that. Her father had after all chosen to draw the majority of her family into the dirt and fields outside of the village. Now, it was just her and the triplets. In fact, she was with the triplets right now. They wanted to go to the field used by the local children to play soccer, Eiatsu tagged along.

Even though she had previously relished the thought of actual days off, the girl couldn't just laze about. No, that wouldn't help her at all. The damage had already been done to her psyche by her father. She couldn't find herself capable of relaxing. So, as her younger siblings, two boys and one girl, ran across the field in play with their friends, their older sister was doing some training. Eiatsu had promised herself that she wouldn't get too carried away with it. Today, all she was doing was jogging in an attempt to build stamina. So, while the shouts of children filled the air, Eiatsu was running in circles around the rather large field at a tepid pace.

Her black hair hung loose, somewhat sticky from sweat. She had been running for over an hour by now. The girl also wore a loose fitting black tank top and blue shorts that cut around her thighs. A bright pink hoodie was being worn as well, with the hood up over her head. She was seemingly trying to make herself sweat more with it. Her black boots were worn as well, scratches and patches making it clear they were used often. Eiatsu's face a soft shade of pink from the constant activity as well. As she continued to jog, her black hair would bop softly, sticking to her face occasionally. Eiatsu would stop occasionally to take a drink of water from a canteen that she kept on her hip.

Eventually, she'd hear a commotion from the field. Looking over, it was clear that one of the triplets had kicked the ball a bit too far away. ”I got it!” she called to them before jogging in the direction of the ball. Taking in a deep breath, Eiatsu would adjust her hood and make her way over, continuing her pace as she tried to keep on doing her exercises. However, before she could make it to the ball, a familiar figure out kick the ball back towards the kids. Eiatsu would stop, jogging in place gently while watching the Raikage and the stranger for a moment before approaching them.

Judging from what the stranger was saying, Eiatsu could determine that he was somewhat new to the village. Approaching, she would bow her head politely in their direction, stopping her jogging in place for a moment. ”Good day Raikage,” she spoke, her voice soft but firm. ”I apologize about the ball, one of the triplets kicked it over here.” Eiatsu seemed somewhat apologetic as she spoke, clearly worried since it wasn't outside the realms of possibility for one of her younger siblings to purposely aim the ball at adults. She didn't ask anything about the stranger next to him though. Instead, she just gave another soft bow of the head in his direction. "Good day." After all, it wasn't her place to question who the Raikage was with.